


Jail Break for the Firehawk

by flordecai



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: #Jail Break the Fyrehawk, #Mordy Is Not Being Responsible, Angst, Angst and Feels, Break Up, Brick and Mordecai are fighting, Death to the Handsome Jackass, Handsome Jack is mentioned, Lilith dies?, Mordecai and Brick fight, Multi, angsty Mordecai, big fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-12-29 18:24:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12090783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flordecai/pseuds/flordecai
Summary: The Warrior is destroyed, but Handsome Jack fled before Brick could punch his brains in or Mordecai could snipe his pretty boy face off- and he took Lilith with him. Now Brick and Mordecai search desperately for a way to reach Helios in order to regain their best friend.But just how might they get to a space station orbiting Pandora when they have no space ship themselves? And if they were to somehow get there, how will they know where to look? Will Lilith be the same or will she be a shell of the powerful Siren she was?





	1. Choking on Cheap Ass Pizza

**Author's Note:**

> Songs I listened to while writing this, in case you all wanna suffer with me.
> 
> "Hanging Tree" cover by Peter Hollins  
> "Hands of Gold" extended cover by Peter Hollins  
> "Heavy" Linkin Park feat. Kiiara  
> "The Parting Glass" The Clancy Brothers at Carnegie Hall  
> "Patriot Game" The Clancy Brothers at Carnegie Hall

Helios was gleaming, but not like water does when the first rays of light bounce across the surface, no it was gleaming in a way that only electrical parts can. The lights across its surface as artificial and shallow as the man who built it, their light glowing above Pandora like a light bulb that no one ever wanted. The light of the setting sun glinted out parts of the space station, blurring the sniper’s vision a bit, causing him to put down his gun, feeling Talon perch on his shoulder and cry out softly. The bird was easily several sizes smaller than his mother, Bloodwing, had been however most of that was because he was still young. Much as Mordecai wished he looked like his mother, Talon’s coloring was distinctly different- his head a darker tanish color and the feathers of his tail taking his mother’s color of bright white. At least when in the heat of a training mission- or any mission in general- he didn’t confuse the youngling with his mother, otherwise Mordy doubted he could ever train the bird, too haunted by the memory of his best friend to properly train him.

“Damn it, Talon, what’d I just run through with you.” The tan man stood up, rubbing his temples as he shook his shoulder lightly, pointing a gloved hand to the sky. Talon gave a screech of protest, but he obeyed, flying above his owner and beginning to do wide and varying circles above him. “Talon, stay at the same level for Christ’s sake…” Mordecai sighed, motioning his hand slowly, praying the bird understood him. Much to his dismay, Talon shook his head before perching on the edge of a nearby chimney, calling to his owner in what could only be a teenager yelling at his mother.

_Except I’m not your mother, your mother died…_

And the thought alone caused the sniper to feel a sharp tightness in his chest, leaving him feeling empty and numb, as if a hole opened up where his heart should be beating. He had been putting off dealing with these sorts of emotions until _after_ they found Lilith, but it seemed he couldn’t put them off any longer. Settling back into his seat of blankets and his backpack, Mordy pushed his goggles onto his forehead, rubbing at his eyes in irritation, trying to push the inevitable back just a bit. He couldn’t do this, not right now, not when Brick was already on edge, not when Lilith was still missing, not with Roland dead, not when he somehow became the _leader_ of the Crimson Raiders- who the _fuck_ decided that one? Had the damn soldier man left it in some will that Mordecai should be the leader in his absence? Or had Brick had enough running the show with the slabs down in Thousand Cuts? Was it just because Lilith wasn’t there? Was he just a stand in?

His thoughts were painful and becoming more and more panicked as the brunette tried to come to terms with his situation. He had been listening to Hyperion lines for months now, barely sleeping or leaving his post, too paranoid he would miss something if he left his small campsite on the roof of what had been his safe house with Brick. His boyfriend slept below him, in their room where the mattresses- which were worse for wear- were once again relocated to the corner of the room. The trash and collection of odd items had inspired this move, but it didn’t change much about the room, which was comforting to the sniper. Had Brick wanted to stay in HQ, Mordecai would have lost his tiny little mind and probably have instigated a rough and harsh fight with his lover, not that he’d do it purposefully.

“Mordecai…” Came Brick’s voice from behind the sniper, the word low and soft from the berserker's lips, a rare feat for the man. “You’ve been up for three days straight, don’t you think it’d be a good idea to get some sleep?”

“I can’t…” He whispered, slowly standing and feeling his head spin with the motion, rubbing his temples as he took his goggles off completely. “What if something comes up?”

“Record it, we’ll be able to listen to it once you get some sleep.” The giant man moved to wrap his arm loosely around Mordecai, stabling the man lightly, with barely any effort at all. “You haven’t been eating either, I told you to have some regular meals.” Brick is upset, as he should be because this isn’t the first time the Truxican had gone a significant amount of time without eating or caring for himself. When the two had started living together in New Haven Mordecai could go nearly a week without touching food or a bed, not until Brick threw him into their bedroom and locked him within with several packets of crackers, water, and sandwiches.

“I… I couldn’t leave…”

“I get it, Mordecai, but you’re trembling. You need food. We can record the ECHOs, get some rest.” The sniper has no time to escape as the giant man picks him up, hits the record button the the ECHO hacking radio and walked quickly to the stairwell, making his way to their room just a flight below. “Get some damn sleep, alright?”

“Why are you calling me Mordecai?” This puts Brick off for a moment, confusion coloring his face for a split second.

 _Why is he asking about this_ now?

“Because that’s your name.”

“You never call me by my full name, not when you’re not upset with me, _la afición_.”

“Well I am upset with you.”

“Explain why.”

“Eat and I’ll tell you, alright?” Brick sets him down, jerking his chin to the bag of food he had gotten from Moxxi’s bar- and two boxes of pizza. It may not have been the way the goliath man wanted to get food for his boyfriend, but it was cheap and easy food to get in such a short notice, nevermind Moxxi offering to toss in some Rakk Ale on top of that _despite_ the fact that alcohol was the _last_ thing Brick wanted Mordecai to have access to at the moment.

“You went to Moxxi’s huh?” Mordecai quipped, anger rising in his throat and the desire to verbally hurt the other- but he quickly pulled himself back and stuffed pizza into his mouth to prevent him from uttering any of the millions of things passing through his mind.

_Gods I’m such a fuckin’ asshole…_

“Yeah, I like her pizza and she gives it to me for cheap.” Grunted Brick as he sat across from the other, the distance off putting to both of them. Normally the giant man would be almost impossible to separate from his boyfriend, but lately Mordecai had noticed he was becoming less and less physical with him, the lack of physical contact terrifying the sniper.

“Right…” The brunette murmured between bites, lowering his eyesight to his feet, the taste of the pizza not fully registering with him as he just ate the food. In truth, if he paid attention to the taste it would be like chewing under seasoned bread with bland sauce and barely melted cheese. He felt pitiful, absolutely pitiful, as he sat in the uncomfortable silence between the two men.

“I’m going to be on night watch tomorrow night.” Came Brick’s first comment in the past ten minutes, the effort painfully obvious in his voice and posture, sending a pain through Mordecai’s chest and stomach. Once again the urge to spit harmful words at his boyfriend began to rise in his chest and in his throat, like bile that would not stay in the pit of his stomach where he needed it to stay hidden away from the world.

Desperate to keep his calm, the sniper stuffed his face with another slice of pizza, closing his eyes as he tried to calm himself, the thoughts buzzing around his head painfully and uncomfortably fast, like bees desperate to be freed from his skull. With his desperate attempt to keep his mouth too full for horrid and cruel comments from leaving it, the sniper swallows a chunk of pizza too quickly and a burning and painful sensation shoots up his throat, causing a gagging reaction to erupt from Mordecai.

And then he realizes he’s _fucking choking on a piece of his ex-girlfriend’s cheap ass pizza._

“Mordy? You okay?” Brick nearly instantly realizes the idiotic mistake the sniper has made, moving quickly to help his lover. With a quick and rather painfully hard smack, he freed the other from the horrible moment of dying by choking on Moxxi’s pizza, however he left his back with a nice, big, red and bruising hand print as a badge of shame.

“F… Fuck…” The brunette gasped, spit dripping from his lips as he doubled over, his lanky arms wrapping around his abdomen in pain.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Brick murmured softly, gently rubbing Mordecai’s back, guilt dripping from his words as he slowly pulled his boyfriend close. “I… I was being mean…”

“No shit, Sherlock…”

“Like you were a ray of sunshine, bird boy.”

Ouch. That one hurt, that one hurt _a lot_.

Lilith had always called him that, mostly because when they met he had Bloodwing with him and seemed to never part with her for anything. The Siren had always affectionately called him that, sometimes out of anger, sure, their fighting was often petty or small if it ever occurred. But the use of the nickname by Brick at this moment was not the playful banter Mordecai preferred or was frankly in the mood for.

“Thanks Brick, be a real asshole about this shit.” The words slipped out of his mouth before he could find time to halt his raging thoughts. The minute the words left his mouth he regretted ever uttering them, the look on Brick’s face darkening and he quickly withdrew from the other.  
“Well you didn’t have to say that.” He murmured, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, his back to the other man.

“Brick wait a second I didn’t-”

“No, you did.”

Mordecai stood up, swaying a bit from his exhaustion and the mild nausea that had started to build in his stomach. He had been such an idiot, snapping at his boyfriend when he should be more patient, more understanding…

“Brick, I didn’t mean it. I’m just… I haven’t slept well and-”

“And when you get tired, you get snarky. Yeah, I know.”

“Brick… Look at me.” The sniper beggs, moving to sit on his knees in front of the giant man, his own frame trembling as he tried to gently turn Brick’s face to his own. “Brick, I’m sorry…”

The goliath man sighed, slowly turning to face Mordecai, his eyes focusing on the other’s face before hesitantly moving to pull the skinny man into his lap. The blonde held the other tightly to his chest, resting his chin on top of the other’s hair, closing his eyes slowly.

“Please just… Just get some sleep, alright?”

The brunette nodded slowly, tucking himself into the other’s chest tiredly, nuzzling his face against Brick in an attempt to press himself as close as he physically could to the other. He didn’t answer the other’s question, too tired and emotionally drained to really make any sort of effort to communicate other than the natural reflex to cuddle into his boyfriend’s chest, the heat radiating off his body comforting and soothing to Mordecai’s exhausted body.

In an attempt to not wake the other from a sleep he desperately needed, Brick made small, subtle moves into the middle of the bed. One inch at a time, he slid into the sheets, his hold never loosening on the other as he laid on the firm mattress. If he had wanted to sleep, he wouldn’t be able to for a long while, his body on high alert and tense as he felt Mordecai wrap around him like a small koala. It made the blonde smile, finding that his boyfriend of over two years was rather clingy in his sleep.

It had been a gradual thing, this clinginess. For one, Mordy rarely slept in the same bed as any of his significant others, too paranoid or flighty to really commit to something apparently so intense. But after the few times Brick spent the night with him, he slowly began to open to the idea of sleeping together with the other- both sexually and physically sleeping together. At first, the blonde giant was the only one who would be anything resembling clingy, mainly being the one to pull Mordecai into hugs or any form of physical contact. And at first he was alright with being the only one who seemed interested in displays of affection- save for when the bird man wanted to kiss him, Mordecai was by far the _best_ kisser he ever had dated in his life. But after his time being captured and tortured by Hyperion, suddenly being the only one who showed his affection in actions was not enough, not by a long shot. Sure, Mordecai had moments where he openly showed his emotions and in those moments the giant berserker was the happiest man on the planet- for that moment. Eventually, he grew tired of things fairly quickly and his expulsion from Sanctuary only put him into a more irritable mood the more he thought about the situation. So when he lead his army of slabs that began following him half a mile past Sanctuary and he found somebody who openly showed he was interested in him, it was no wonder that he ran with the situation, desperate for physical affection. Didn’t help he and Mordecai were like fire and ice at the time and had been on one of their numerous “breaks” that occurred for most of Brick’s time as the Slab King.

But now he lay in bed with Mordecai, holding him close as he listened to the low hum of Sanctuary- the hum, as Scooter explained- was the machinery keeping the city afloat despite the Siren who phased the entire damn city was nowhere remotely close to it. The hum was soothing a bit, allowing him to calm down a bit, preventing him from being kept awake by thoughts of unpleasant things. But what really calmed the giant man down the best was, normally, his boyfriend cuddling against him. Normally, that is.

Lately, Mordecai and him had been at odds, the sniper having taken over the Crimson Raiders in the wake of Roland’s death- no, his _murder_. Jack was a fuckin murderer who deserved the worst sort of death imaginable, especially after all the pain he was causing even now, after retreating to his cowardice home in Helios. It was bad enough he had to kill one of his friends but to kidnap another one was unforgivable. The tension was so high between Mordecai and Brick that you could physically feel it whenever the two entered HQ together, resulting in them both leading separate lives. It didn’t take much to upset the sniper, Brick knew that much from their time together. He also knew Mordecai was easily set into a fight or flight mode when faced with conflict, the stage he most likely was in currently was in between direct conflict and his final decision. The fact he hadn’t lashed out as much as he potentially could have meant the brunette was holding himself back, that he genuinely was considering the repercussions of his actions, a feat that he wouldn’t have done seven years ago.

“Mh… Brick?” Came the other man’s sleepy voice as he stirred, sitting up a bit. He had only been asleep for a few hours, Pandora’s moon hadn’t even begun to rise yet and he was awake again. Couldn’t he give himself a small break?

“Go back to sleep, Mordy…” This earned him an exhausted smile, the tan man leaning up to kiss the other’s cheek lightly, resting his forehead against his temple.

“You have the watch tonight don’t you?” He mumbled, making no move to try to go back to sleep.

“Midnight to nine…”

“Rough one…”

“Always has been, but I dun mind.”

“Course you don’t…” Mordecai sighed as he got up, tugging at Brick’s hand lightly. “When you get back, I’ll properly sleep, okay?” His brown eyes flicked to the other’s face, focusing on his vibrant blue eyes.

“You promise, Mordy?”

“Yeah, yeah I promise.”

Brick was hesitant, slowly standing and moving to cup his boyfriend’s face in his hands, trying to study his face in the dim light radiating from the window. Mordecai’s face had always been rough, small scars littering the skin of his cheek, his forehead, his nose and his lip, most likely the result of training with Bloodwing or from his early life before Pandora. Not that the sniper ever gave a true, clean cut history of his life or his scar- no that information was dropped rarely and with quick transition to a new topic, like small comments in a game that hold no meaning when ignored or looked over. The giant man knew vaguely what drove his boyfriend into this hostile and rebellious planet, a father who beat the living daylights out of him, no mother to turn to- most likely died at the hands of her husband or had run off, Mordecai knew nothing of where she could be nor did he care to try and find out. Whenever he ran off, he turned to gambling and being a paid sniper, finding finances in odd and bizarre places until he reached enough pocket cash to buy a ticket to Pandora, sold on some tale of being a vault hunter- as had Brick, Lilith and Roland, but not in the manor that was at all identical.

“You know, I sometimes wonder if we’d have ever met had you not come to Pandora…” The blonde murmured softly, his voice coarse and gravely from thirst, his eyes focused on the other male, his thumb rubbing the thinner man’s cheek. “Dun like the thought of it much…”

“If it consoles you, I wouldn’t be as happy. I’d probably be a wasted drunk in a tavern some where, roaming from town to town, planet to planet when I could, never staying put.”

“And you’d probably be in the shittiest relationships known to the universe.” Brick laughed, leaning foreward gently, kissing the other slowly, closing his eyes and humming. “Or you’d be paying some girl to keep your bed warm…”

“Or guy!” The brunette huffed, lightly punching his boyfriend’s shoulder, gripping his vest a bit as he leaned into him.

“Or guy,” Brick chuckled, resting his forehead against Mordecai’s, looking at him. “You swing… Forgot that…”

The thin sniper chuckled a bit, closing his own eyes as he focused on Brick’s breathing, running his hand against the large scars on his shoulder, disliking the vagueenss on how _exactly_ the scar appeared there but not disliking the scar itself. Many of the giant’s scars where ones Mordecai had watched happen, ones he tended for with insta health vials and medical kits- thanks to the experimental doctor in Sanctuary- and the appearance of the scars never bothered him much, mainly because the scar had been an attempt to protect something precious to Brick, it had been the giant man  protecting Lilith, protecting Roland, hell even protecting Mordecai. The blonde berserker never did something violent without reason, he always went into battle to push towards the vault or protect his friends or to protect a city of people who had done nothing wrong. He would never attack someone he thought to be innocent, that was his one limitation just like Roland always used his soldier status.

“Hey… Brick…?” The brunette mumbled, opening his eyes to poke the other’s cheek lightly.

“Mhhm…?” He had been sleeping, sniffing as he sat up a bit, looking at Mordecai slowly, his eyes half open as he began to wake more. “Yeah?”

“Do you… Do you think we’ll find ‘er?” This woke him up instantly, causing him to shift, urging his body to be on the same level of alertness as his mind which was stirred rather abruptly.

“Mordy…”

“Do you think we’ll find ‘er. Simple question, _gran hombre_.”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?” He pulls back, scooting to sit across from Brick, picking up a slice of pizza, picking pieces off of it and refusing to look at him, anger beginning to flare up in his mind.

“I… Mordy, we haven’t heard anything in months, maybe…”

“Don’t you dare-”

“We’re still scouting, a scout party is out search-”

“Don’t you _fuckin’_ dare say she’s-”

“I am _not_ saying _that_ !” Brick yells, standing up quickly, his hands in fists, anger clear in his loud voice. “I ain’t givin’ up, don’t sit there and make me out to be the bad guy. The bad guy is _up there!”_ He violently points at the small portion of Helios that was visible in the dark night sky, glowing with it’s fluorescent blue lights like it had for the past six years. “So don’t go tellin’ me I’m the one who gave up! You gave up the day Roland _died!_ And everybody damn well knows it!”

Mordecai stares at the other, slowly rising shakily to stand on the bed, noticing the visible anger through Brick’s shaking body.

“Brick-”

“You _gave up!_ And you take that out on everybody else, on me, on Talon, on Moxxi- you act like we all wronged you, like we’re the ones to blame for _your fuck ups.”_

“Brick stop for-”

“I’m goin’ to go punch somethin’.” He growled, storming out of the room, brushing violently through the door frame and stomping down the staircase, his loud steps still audible blocks from what was once their safe haven. Mordecai just stared after him, at a loss for words as he watched his boyfriend leave.

And then he was all alone.

Talon had taken flight the minute Brick raised his voice, much like his mother, he hated loud noises and the first noise that upset him caused the small bird to fly off for what could be half a day. And Brick- well, the sniper knew he wouldn’t be back for several days, and even then it would be Mordecai apologizing in a desperate attempt to get the other to talk to him instead of just shove past him. It would be like their fights before, they both would go on their own for a bit while feeling guilty and angry for no more than a week- Mordecai would get shit faced, blab to anybody who would listen about how he fucked up. Or he’d disappear for a few days, go hunting with Talon to keep his mind off everything.

“Fuck…” The brunette groaned, standing up and looking at the balcony. Slowly, he made his way over to it, staring up at the gigantic space station, frowning as he took a deep breath. Helios remained there no matter how many times they got information on how to breach it, it stayed put because Jack _knew_ they had no fuckin’ way to get off Pandora and get up there to beat his brains in. No space ship, no access. Plain and simple. And yet, Mordecai still couldn’t help himself, he still poured over ECHO logs dating back to when Lilith and Roland were on Elpis, devouring every piece of information he was able to get his dirty fingers on and yet it still wasn’t enough.

Lilith was all alone up there, stuck with the man who murdered Roland, with the man who tried to blaze the entire fuckin’ planet for Christ’s sakes. She was all alone and the Crimson Raiders were no closer to getting up there to get her than they were when Jack captured her in the first place, a fact Mordecai despised with every fiber of his being. It was bad enough Roland had forbidden him from being there when they broke into Control Core Angel, but the fact he was in Sanctuary, alone, listening to everything go down without being able to do a damn thing…

Sometimes the sniper wondered if Brick held that against him, even now, with the Warrior dead and Lilith still Jack’s slave. The goliath never let much go, that much was evident, but generally he was at least understanding of certain situations. He should have understood Mordecai had been obeying orders, he would get that he had no choice in the matter- but that was what the brunette told himself to get the small amount of sleep he needed. In truth, he should have fought against Roland more, he should have demanded to be there and when that failed snuck off to be there anyways, just like he used to back in the days where they roamed Fyrestone and New Haven. He should have been more forceful, shouldn’t have taken no as an answer, told Roland he and Lilith were more important.

But he didn’t.

Instead he stayed behind while Brick and his slabs beat the BNK3R and listened intently as they entered Angel’s chambers, shocked as anyone to discover she was no computer system or AI as they all originally believed but a Siren- and, to boot, Jack’s Siren _daughter._ It was a hollow victory, when they killed the eridium pipes that essentially gave the girl life, but a victory nonetheless. Angel was free of her controlling father as she had always wanted and the Crimson Raiders had the vault key- or, at least that’s what they had thought. Then Jack appeared and it was over. Roland dead, Lilith with a collar around her neck and the vault hunters phased to who the fuck knew. Brick was safe- thank the gods he was- but angry and bitter, punching walls left and right out of frustration. They never talked about what happened, both were too focused on what was for all intents and purposes a war, barely even speaking when they met in HQ daily. Now look at them, Mordecai, the flighty leader of a bunch of rebels who had been united by Roland a year and a half ago and Brick, the strong and stubborn ass leader of practically bandits, fighting over petty shit. But most of it wasn’t petty, most of it was shit they _really_ should have talked about before now, but now it was built up and tense and painful- now was _waaaay_ too delicate to even consider breaching these topics, not if they were to remain some what intact.

“Fucking hell…” Mordecai huffed, grabbing his canteen and the box of pizza before huffing it back to the top of the building, knowing sleep was too far off for him to even consider. So instead of attempting a restless and completely useless sleep, the sniper went back over his ECHO hacking, desperate for any information he could scavenge from the giant piece of shit space station that practically mocked him.

Dialing in a radio took time and practice, a skill the bird man indulged in a lot these days, ever since Brick had been kicked out of Sanctuary by Roland. It had been, once upon a time, the only way he could track his giant boyfriend as he made his way across Pandora. He’d hack into Hyperion radios, listen as they mentioned a group of bandit attacks, desperate to see if they named him- then, the Slab King emerged in Thousand Cuts, interrupting the normal Hyperion broadcast to yell about Jack killing his pet _Dusty_ , who Mordecai had smuggled onto Pandora for Brick on their first year anniversary. The sniper kept this information a secret from Roland, saying he needed to investigate something in the area- some lie he spent days coming up with- and made his way toward the Slab King’s home, somehow sneaking into the damn place only to almost be killed by his own boyfriend.

 _“-- Copy, Wildlife Exploitation Preserve will be bringing the requested ten stalkers, four alpha-”_ Letting out a sigh, he tuned the dial again, rolling his eyes in mild anger. He had wanted to se the place on fire, but having the vault hunters release the animals was all he could achieve for now, much to his displeasure.

_“Over, reporting- the last fire hawk has died, I repeat, the last fire hawk has died.”_

Mordecai froze, his hand on the dial trembling as his brain began the descent into hysteria. Fyrehawk, hadn’t Lilith gone by that name before? Sure he couldn’t see the words (ECHO communications rarely ever did) but it _sounded_ like her code name- and _of course_ they wouldn’t use her real name, Jack knew that they had been hacking into their ECHOs since he set out to awaken the Warrior, it wasn’t rocket science. But what if this was a trick, an attempt to throw them off, a way to get the Crimson Raiders to give up. But then why not directly tell them she was dead? Jack had no problem with telling lies or manipulating them into his plans- he had his daughter lie to them since they arrived on Pandora, why wouldn’t he use his workers to do the same?

The sniper pulled his knees to his chest, staring at the radio, unsure what to make of this or if he should take it seriously. He had been listening to Helios for months, years even, and this was only the third or fourth reference to the Fyrehawk or anything related to it. As he scraped his brain, desperate to remember any ECHO logs he had listened to over the years, he remembered one- maybe, four or five months ago- that simply stated _“the fire hawk is detained once more”_. It made sense, it was roughly around the time after they had destroyed the Warrior- and it had been recorded, it could have been around the battle while Brick and Mordecai searched in vain for their friend. Slowly hiding his face in his knees, the brunette hugged his knees tighter, his shoulders trembling as he tried to calm himself down.

_She really is dead… She’s really gone..._


	2. As you walked away/ A hole appeared with me/ That he'll never fill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mordecai forms a plan with Axton and Zer0 to head to the Hyperion Info Stockade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is a haiku I found online, titled "Loss" by HaikuJAM users Bella, TheSeriousClown & Sabina.
> 
> I chose the title because Zer0 is featured in this chapter- and for a few after this- and I wrote in his haiku speech, which was fun!

In retrospect, he should have seen Brick’s absence coming and the painful relief he felt when Pandora’s long night turned into day without sign of the giant man should not have hit him so hard, but it did.

When the Truxican finally came back to the bedroom, he curled himself into the back of the bed, the exhaustion from numerous nights without sleep taking its toll but the desire to actually rest was nonexistent. When they had been searching for the vault, his sleep schedule was somewhat reasonable- sleeping whenever possible, staying awake in order to get shit done, normal things like that. Sure, it hadn’t been entirely perfect, gods knew how many times he went several days without sleeping, but the current schedule was far worse. If he wasn’t listening to the radio he was in HQ, sending search party after search party to get intel about Helios, and if he wasn’t there he was training Talon or was training the raiders. He kept moving, kept running, kept doing _anything_ to keep himself from thinking about the status of their fight against Jack.

Letting out a groan, Mordecai stood up quickly, his head pounding painfully as he pulled a duffle bag from the small closet at the back of the room before beginning to stuff his small amount of clothes into the large bag. He’d find an intel mission, pull Brick off his shifts and leave him in charge of the newbs, let him handle some of the leadership bull shit. Maybe even pull the new vault hunters onto the intel mission he was creating in his head, leave Salvador and someone (probably Kreig) behind to balance the work force in sanctuary. He knew he’d hate being away from Sanctuary, but if Brick wasn’t here their safe house felt like a cage that continued to shrink around him. So instead of facing a problem with the relationship like he normally would have with Brick, he was running away, focusing all of his energy on getting better intel.

Helios and Hyperion in general had habits of having false information, it happened in any large, annoying entity, so checking out the message he had that night was the first thing on his priority list. Maybe Handsome Jack had a bird- some type of phoenix or Eridium mutant- and it died, and he thought he could use this against the raiders, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time it happened. Like nay intel he got, he had to be sure to double check and ensure Lilith was truly dead before informing the Crimson Raiders, otherwise he’d bring about too much stress and sadness for nothing. Worst case scenario, he was right and the mourning would begin like it did with Blood, he’d drink until the world flipped and he’d blurt it out at a very inconvenient time.

Talon watched him scurry around the apartment floor, crying softly when he came over and commanded the bird perch on his shoulder. Reluctantly, he obeyed, making sure to show his owner his displeasure with a swift peck to the neck, leaving a small bleeding scratch. Not that Mordecai cared, Bloodwing had given him his fair share of scars with her attitude so he was fairly used to the habit by now. Although Blood had never pecked him out of annoyance, it was always either a mistake or affection, never actual annoyance or anger.

Once he had Talon, the brunette left the apartment, not entirely sure he’d be back or if anyone would be back. After reaching the street, he gently gave Talon a hand command and the bird took off silently, heading towards HQ in his swirling flight patterns that Mordecai wished the young bird would abandon. Sighing in disappointment, he threw the duffle bag over his shoulder, beginning his walk in a similar direction, avoiding overpopulated areas by sticking to the outskirts of Sanctuary. Because of his route, the trip there was longer but it allowed for him to collect his thoughts and avoid starting this entire process off on what he considered the wrong foot.

If he was going on an intel mission, Axton and Zer0 were good members to have around, given the two were actually competent shooters and listened to directions better than the raiders did under Roland. Salvador and Mordecai never mixed well, even when they had good days, so taking him on any sort of mission was not something the sniper saw happening in the near future. The only two new vault hunters he was uncertain of following along for the mission was Maya and Kreig. While having Maya, a powerful Siren coming into her powers, along would be exceptionally helpful, Kreig came with Maya like a midget psycho rider came with its skag. When separated one would wreak as much chaos and violence as physically possible, that mainly being Kreig. As much as he wanted to have Maya’s abilities and cunning intuition, Mordecai also needed order and some sort of normalcy in sanctuary while he was gone. Plus, Salvador needed to be kept in check, who better than Maya and Kreig?

Set on the vault hunters he was going to bring with him, the hunter made a direct dash towards HQ. Now that his thoughts were a bit more collected and organized, the chaos could die in his brain and allow him to pay more attention to his surroundings. However, as he opened the door to HQ and stepped inside, prepared to dash to the upper floor, he was greeted by a sea of papers and files.

“DO NOT STEP THERE!” Tannis’ shrill voice was not helping his head ache, especially when it came over his ECHO _and_ in his ears as he entered HQ, her high pitched near scream ricocheting on the metal.

“Tannis, for the love of fuck, _don’t do that._ ” He growled, rubbing his temple as he sucked in a shallow breath, stepping off the papers that were scattered in front of him as the scientist began quickly shoving them back into her folder. Normally she wouldn’t be awake right now, but after her torture from Jack her sleep routine was as screwed up as his was, probably even worse off.

“For your information, these are my finds on Lilith. I thought you’d want them, so I compiled a chronological file on anything related to her and her siren capabilities.” She huffed, slapping the thick folder into my free hand and quickly returning to her area.

“I…” Words caught in Mordy’s throat as he stared at the folder, the neat letters that spelled out his best friend’s name glaring at him.

“Are you experiencing emotional distress? Need I contact your significant other?”

“No,” he quickly snapped, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he went over to the numerous bunk beds, setting his duffle bag on a top bunk. “Tannis, I… Do you have any other folders on Jack, Eridium or Lilith?”

“Sirens included, Twelve.” She stated quickly, leaning against her desk as she adjusted her fingerless gloves, eyes blank as her brain quickly began working. “I have several files on Handsome Jack, however they are not in a signal folder rather in multiple- some of which I have since lost, I’m waiting on Zer0 to return them to me within the month. However, Eridium and Sirens are the bulk of my files. Most are scientific experiments I conducted- only Maya has consented to the small physical inquires or tests, Lilith refuses repeatedly.”

“Get those upstairs to me as soon as you find them, alright?” Mordecai murmured softly, turning to grab some clean looking and smelling clothes, locking the rest in a nearby locker before heading towards the shower area.

The water in Sanctuary was always hard to get running, especially during the long Pandoran nights in a town where the temperature dropped drastically, but they managed to get decent warm water- hot was a rare feat, especially when the fucking town was air born. Not that he cared, water was water and it was better than nothing at all, especially when he need to collect his buzzing thoughts _again_.

Closing the metal door behind him, Mordecai made sure to hit the lock button, not wanting to have a raider walk in on him naked. Sure, it wouldn’t matter to the raider, but to the sniper it would be mortifying. Only a select few had seen him naked, Brick, Lilith and Moxxi being the only three recently, and he liked to keep that number low. It wasn’t a self-conscious thing, his body (in his opinion) was fine as hell, rather it was avoidance. The sniper hated being around people, let alone being vulnerable around them, hence why, even in bed, he always had a piece of clothing on- tank top, under shirt, etc. He absolutely refused to be fully nude with _anyone_ , the only exception being Brick but that was… a rare occurrence.

The water from the faucet start out icy cold, causing the thin brunette to cringe slightly, twisting the knob to the red, praying the water would heat quickly. What was probably only a matter of seconds felt like eternity, but the hot water finally began dispensing from the nozzle, causing Mordecai to sigh in relief. He didn’t mind going several months without a shower, knowing showers weren’t exactly a necessity when one lived a nomadic life style, but having one available was a nice change of pace. Showers let him relax a bit, let his brain fade into with the steam of the hot water, letting his fast track mind drift and collect itself. He genuinely believed that taking a shower allowed him to process anything his subconscious had realized, especially whenever he had major epiphanies after particularly enjoyable showers.

Having zoned out for what felt like hours, the brunette turned the water off, heading to the locker room adjourned with the showers, pulling on a tank top and stopping. The white and fairly stretched fabric had the strong scent of Brick- which was mostly sweat, metal- some kinda iron or steel? - and dirt, _lots_ of dirt. It was a smell he had grown to enjoy, despite his neurotic desire to avoid sweat or grim to the point of insane physical feats of maneuvering. Yet why was his stomach suddenly a massive rock in his gut, painful and immovable?

Sucking in a deep breath, Mordecai pulled the tank top off, tossing it in the duffle bag before pulling on a loose t-shirt, one he normally wore to bed. A pair of cargo pants later and the sniper was trudging up the stairs to the large upper floor, completely set with a large, holographic map of Pandora- specifically the area between us and Hyperion’s Helios station above.

Roland had been the creative genius behind the map, teaming up with Scooter and Tannis to build the thing in a seemingly impossible pace. Normally, Tannis would refuse vehemently to work with someone as _unique_ as Scooter, who’s not so subtle sexual innuendos bothered anyone with a decent mindset. It was shocking that Roland had even considered teaming the two together, given Tannis’ history with practically everyone in Sanctuary, yet he did it anyway and to everyone’s shock and awe- _he succeeded_. Although, it really shouldn’t have been a surprise to Mordecai or any one, really. If Roland set his mind to a task, he accomplished it in record speed or in a timely manner, never exceeding that. It was like predictable and astounding clockwork, the original task seemingly impossible for anyone other than him to accomplish. While Mordecai liked to say he had hated Roland with every fiber of his being, in truth, he missed his friend and it tore him apart that the other had died. But he wouldn’t let on just how much it was affecting him, no fuckin’ way.

Rubbing his temple as he got himself a cup of coffee, the Truxican ECHOed the new batch of vault hunters- specifically the pair of hunters he was now considering referring to as _the dream team_. He hoped they would keep quiet, just come to HQ without bragging to everyone in town about some secret mission Mordecai requested them for. Zer0 would probably arrive first and be silent or passive about it all, Axton was the wild card here- whenever drunk, the man couldn’t stop talking to save his life and based on the ECHO answer he got back, the commando had been at Moxxi’s all night. Not that he was judging the man, there had been many nights Mordecai never left his booth at Moxxi’s, he was just hoping that Axton knew to keep his mouth shut about it.

“Ah, thank you Zer0! Here, have this… Whatever it is for your-” Tannis was cut off as the assassin marched up the stairs to where Mordecai had just sat down with his coffee.

“What is the holdup? / Is Axton in the bathroom? / Is he on the phone?”

“Easy there, _amigo_ , Axton isn’t here yet.” The sniper sipped his coffee, sitting back and propping his feet up on the map table.

“I am bored as hell / I would like to kill something / Can we friggin go?” Zer0 crossed their arms as their faceless head turned to Mordecai, 嘆くappearing where their face should be.

“Look, I’m not repeating info, Axton needs to be here for me to start blabbing.” He raised an eyebrow at the assassin as the two began staring at each other.

With a loud sigh, Zer0 opened their hood display, finding Axton’s ECHO location- which was still in Moxxi’s bar- before muttering to themselves and disappearing down the hall.

“Or… You could… Do that.” Mordecai blinked, sipping his coffee one more time before turning to the files he had sitting next to him. He should have expected Zer0 to be the first hunter there, they moved rapidly, never resting or taking things slowly. It was one of the features that Mordecai liked about them and the reason he wanted them on this mission in particular. Silence, stealth and secrecy were the top skills necessary to have this mission run smoothly, if one word was spoken to Brick on this the entire mission would be in jeopardy of falling apart.

Running his finger over Lilith’s name, printed in careful ink on a tan folder, the sniper sucked in a deep breath before beginning to comb over the information Tannis had carefully logged. While he didn’t particularly like the scientist, she had important and useful information when they needed it and it always seemed to yield results. However, there came a… price- the manner in which her unorganized thoughts would be written or recorded in. In revised documents, she had things compiled by topic or reference which helped one find the information or specific section one needed. However, based on the last update date on the file, Tannis had yet to even _consider_ revising and reorganizing Lilith’s file, making the process nearly ten times slower than was helpful.

The Truxican jumped when there was loud yelling below, standing up and grabbing his pistol, dashing to the bottom of the stairs to find Zer0 shoving a stumbling Axton through the entry way as Tannis yelled about yet another group of papers that had scattered about in the chaos.

“The commando arrives, / dragged in by the assassin. / How satisfying this is.”

“Fuck you Zer0! I was taking a mission from Moxxi- “ Axton threw his arm backwards, glaring at the assassin as he fixed his strap, surprisingly not wasted like Mordecai thought he would have been, having spent what he assumed was nearly 12 hours in Moxxi’s bar.

“Well you’ve been requested for a special ops mission by me.” Mordy holstered his pistol, sighing heavily as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, turning to head back up the stairs. “So come on up the HQ, need to debrief your newb asses.”

“How the hell did you even find me, Zer0?” Axton hissed behind Mordecai, anger clear in his voice.

“I am everywhere. / And yet, I am nowhere, too. / I am infinite.”

“I call fuckin’ bullshit.”

“The transmitter attached/ broadcasted your location to/ me directly, genius.”

* * *

 

Explaining the entire thing was a lot easier than Mordecai expected. Convincing the two to head with him to the Hyperion Info Stockade was the easiest part of it all.

“Alright, so when do we leave?” Axton asked, crossing his arms as he watched the glowing Hyperion symbol on the hologram interface, the sound bite paused at a point of static that left it in a spikey, general mess on the screen.

“A departure soon/ is a better advantage/ compared to later.” Zer0 replied, flipping through their display screen while examining their inventory.

“Zer0 has it there, the sooner we prove or disprove the ECHO’s validity, the better. That’s the first step.” Mordecai stood up, stretching as he began typing on the holographic keyboard, his empty coffee cup on the floor behind him.

“Yeah, but… How do we figure out if that’s a legit message or not? Kinda hard to hack into Helios when it’s out of range for our rockets.”

“The commando teammate/ is valid in this matter. / How do we achieve victory?”

Both of the new vault hunters were semi correct- information was scarce now that Hyperion had been pushed into retreat on Helios, but their machinery and stations still remained in various places on Pandora. In places like the Hyperion Info Stockade, where loaders were still active but Hyperion human workers were all evacuated.

“Hyperion still has their stations scattered around the planet- like in the Eridum Blight, Opportunity, the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve. And the Info Stockade still has loaders active, meaning there’s still a source of power.” The sniper pulled up a map of the Info Stockade, a place he’d infiltrated countless times before. “And a source of power means a possible radio connection to Helios, the source of all things related to any Hyperion satellite functions.”

“You’re joking.”

“I’ve snuck in multiple times; the security is predictable and simple, mainly loader patrol. I’ll snipe the loaders when they are out of range from each other, that way they don’t alert every damn one in there. Zer0 can sneak in and take out as many as they can without being noticed, Axton you’ll follow suit in case he _is_ noticed, and I’ll sneak into the communications tower. As long as you two monitor the halls and prevent any loaders from finding us, we could spend multiple night cycles until we get enough information to verify the ECHO.”

“Victory is neigh, / this is very satisfying. / I live for such feats.”

Mordecai smiled a bit as the two began preparing for the mission, standing up and stretching. It had taken him less than an hour to explain everything to the two, the questions flowing with the actual topic at hand. It was actually relaxing to be in charge for once, not having any idiotic incidents that would prevent things from running smoothly.

“Alright, get your shit ready. I have some matters to handle here before we can leave. I’ll ECHO you to assemble at the Fast Travel Station when I have everything taken care of.” He stood up, picking up his discarded coffee mug while fiddling with his ECHO contacts.

“Alrighty, Zer0 do ya wanna go get a few beers?”

“Alcohol weakens/ and infiltrates you unwittingly. / Sobriety is best.”

“Zer0 is right, Axton, you stay sober. If I can’t drink you can’t either- and remember to keep your damn mouth shut about this, even to your friends.” Mordecai growls, turning to glare at the new vault hunters, the seriousness of their new mission finally sinking in with Axton.

The new batch of vault hunters had taken missions seriously, but more often than not info runs weren’t exactly hard nor did they require a serious attitude. Most of their intel missions required finding ECHO logs which were easy enough to obtain or track down, but this mission had no ECHO logs and required stealth to get to the considered ‘easy’ section of the mission. Normally, Mordecai would run the mission with Brick and would be in and out within a day and a half. But informing Brick of the possibility that Lilith died was not exactly a conversation the sniper desired to have, especially if the information was a decoy. And Brick would probably get heated and draw more attention to himself, making accessing the communications tower in the Stockade more difficult than if Mordecai simply brought along extra hands for the hell of it. As much as he hated thinking it, he had better odds pairing up with Axton and Zer0 than he did with his boyfriend.

“Fine, okay, sober it is…” Axton muttered, sighing as he stored his weapon in his inventory, crossing his arms. “Zer0, let’s head down to Marcus then, sell some useless shit and do some target practice. Heard he had a new batch of elemental weapons…”

The two hunters began a slow pace out of HQ, Axton doing most of the conversing while Zer0 replied in their usual, bizarre haiku manner, leaving Mordecai alone again.

For the small amount of time he had sat there debriefing the two on the intel he had, the thoughts in his brain had calmed and disappeared almost entirely, letting him focus and avoid the growing pain in his stomach from earlier. But now that he was alone with his thoughts, he had to face a fact he had been trying to avoid- ECHOing Brick and smoothly lying about exactly where he would be for the next few days. The goliath of a man wouldn’t accept a simple ECHO message from him, nor would he accept a _‘I’ll tell you when I get back, its complicated’_ type of excuse either, so devising an actual lie was his only option.

 _Brick hated lying more than anything._ It was up there with cheating or animal abuse, black or white, no grey area, no _‘I had best intentions,’_ lying was lying. It would be better if Brick could have handled knowing all of it, but brutal honesty was not a viable option for the sniper at the moment.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Mordecai ECHOed his boyfriend, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

 _Technically_ , it wasn’t a lie if he said he was running an intel mission for the vault hunters- something about finding information on Hyperion, say he didn’t know the details but they needed an intel guy on the job. Tell Brick he needed him to watch over Sanctuary until he got back, apologize for last night, tell him they’d talk when he got back and that he would _absolutely_ sleep when he returned. It wasn’t _technically_ lying, it was just… Not telling Brick everything that was going on, which sat in his stomach just like lying did but still, plausible deniability.

“Brick-“ The brunette murmured into his ECHO, closing his eyes as the static dropped while Brick connected to the call. “Brick can you-“

“I’m busy.” His voice was full of anger and annoyance, rough enough to have Mordecai cringe.

“Brick, we need to talk.”

“Then talk now.” He was in a mood, was annoyed and probably didn’t want to take his anger out on Mordecai, not that it made the snappiness in his voice any better.

“… I’m going on an intel run with Axton and Zer0, to the Hyperion Info Stockade.” He swallowed, wanting to bury the part of him that wanted so badly to snap back at the other, to make him _hurt._

“And I care why?”

“Figured you’d wanna know where I was, need someone to take care of things in Sanctuary while I’m gone.” Mordecai sucked in a deep breath, the part of him that wanted to cause damage growing as the conversation continued. _He needed to hang up before this got worse._

“So you’re running away.”

“That’s not what this is, Brick-“

“That _is_ what this is, Mordecai. You’re running away, just like you always do. I guess things never actually changed from our vault hunting days.” It was like a switch flipped in his brain and he suddenly saw red, his body trembling in anger.

“You know what, yeah, nothing _has_ changed, I’m still the piece of shit, the drunk, _pendejo_. I’m a coward, a jackass, I’m still the selfish-“

“Yeah, maybe you-“

“But _I’m trying,_ and maybe you haven’t changed _either-_ “

“Mordecai don’t-“

“Maybe _you’re_ still the giant _idiot_ who runs into battle like the _culo gordo_ he fucking is. Maybe you’re still the bumbling _fucking idiota you were in Firestone_.” Mordecai was panting at this point, unaware he had been screaming until that moment.

Silence.

The words he had said began to sink in, and he felt the guilt punch him in the stomach like a metal brick.

“Oh fuck me, Brick I’m so sorry I didn’t mean that I-“

“No, I think you meant _exactly_ what you said.” Brick’s voice was smooth, coldly smooth, his anger as cold as the Southern Shelf in winter. “Fuck you Mordecai, _fuck you._ ”

Static of the ECHO bounced through HQ at a soft yet deafening pitch, leaving Mordecai to his thoughts and guilt.

He and Brick were over, that was probably the end of it. He’d never considered Brick would dump him, he always thought they’d grow stupidly old together, having adopted like twenty million fucking stray dogs they’d found, grow ancient in Firestone with Lilith, CL4P-TP, all their friends. He’d never considered another possibility, never even brushed over it because up until this point it had never been even remotely a paranoid thought to him. It had seemed like a guarantee, that they had been destined to be together until the sweet embrace of death took them both.

And now, it was over. It was truly and irreparably over.

He was completely and utterly alone- and it _terrified_ him.


	3. An Unexpected Saturn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventures of Axton, Zer0 and Mordecai as their plans to raid the info stockade don't go quite as well as planned.

“I sense a disturbance,/ the leader here is not sound./ Should we take a break?” Zer0 remarked as the two hunters arrived at the Fast Travel station near HQ, the rest of the town vacant and deserted. Most of the residents of Sanctuary spent their days hauled up in their homes, terrified of a rampart bombing from Helios at any minute. Mordecai couldn’t blame them, without Lilith or Roland, the city basically had no defenses and in a blink of an eye it could be erased. But for some reason, Hyperion hadn’t attacked them yet. Maybe their funds were down from the failure of waking the Warrior or maybe Jack simply didn’t care for them at the moment? Whatever the reason, it left a tenseness air in the city that showed no signs of letting up.

“Had a rough morning.” The brunette muttered, signalling Talon to his shoulder before looking between Axton and Zer0. “Alright, we’re going to what used to be Firestone. Junk loaders will probably be roaming around, but they’ll be easy to take out without drawing the _real_ loaders onto us. When we arrive, keep your cover, no talking.”

“Alright, so to make sure we all get this right- we get there, wipe out the junk loaders, head towards the pipeline where Sal crashed through the pipe and take that all the way to the stockade.”

“Right, we’ll stay in the pipe and regroup for the next phase- getting us through the stockade without alerting every loader bot in the area.” The sniper nodded, crossing his arms as Talon perched on the back of his neck. The bird was small enough at the moment that he could  stay there as long as he desired, which surprisingly Mordecai didn’t mind, it was a nice comfort he didn’t realize he needed. “Biggest goal is to not blow our cover. If you think even for a second you’ll be spotted, back off. I’d rather this take forever than had us getting our ass handed to us by a fuckin’ Saturn.”

Axton nodded silently, running a hand through his blonde hair as he stretched. Zer0 on the other hand was going through their inventory again, silent through the entire debrief.

Without much else to go over, Mordecai went to the Fast Travel, swallowing as he adjusted his goggles while looking for the Arid Nexus stop. That was something he’d need to fix when this hell of a war was over, fix up Firestone and change the Fast travel exit name for it back to its original name. The pipeline would have to go, but that was a mission for Tina later, especially with her preference of rather badass explosions. Muttering to himself, he made a mental note before gently wrapping his scarf around Talon, wanting to make sure the bird was kept close to him during the travel.

* * *

Fyrestone, like always, was hot. But this wasn’t the work of heat from the radiant sun that had set an hour before, no it was the eridium waste that was in pools all around the place, emitting a chemical heat that felt unnatural and disturbing. Sucking in a quick breath, the sniper gently tapped Talon, letting him take off into the air before pulling his scarf over his head and wrapping is around his nose and mouth, guarding his face from the scent.

Zer0 appeared soon after, their pistol out and ready as they waited for Axton who followed suit, favoring his corrosive SMG rather than a pistol. Nodding in approval, the older of the three quietly took off to scaling the Hyperion road way above them, taking out several loaders before they realized the breach. From above, Mordecai could see all of what was once the arid town of Fyrestone- the memories of when he first arrived here flashing in scattered pieces as he jogged along the road, keeping an eye on the two hunters below him. Talon did his fair share of helping, diving at nearby skags to keep them at bay and off the trio’s tale, swirling in odd diving patterns that kept the skags interested enough to try to catch him instead of chasing down the other moving beings in their range of attack.

Much to the sniper’s surprise, the junk loaders he had been expecting were scarce in numbers, only three roaming the lot, making for easy targets. Before long, they had made it to the pipeline without even a rakk noticing they were there, panting in the dark slime and grime that had built up inside the pipe. Thankfully, the brunette had his scarf that kept the chemical stench a bay for the time being and Zer0 had their helmet- Axton was the only one that had notice and was hacking up a storm, glaring at his two companions.

“Couldn’t have warned us about the slag?”

“I would have thought you’d remembered the slag from last time.” Mordecai frowned, looking at the commando who was coughing violently into his elbow, trying to keep the sound quiet despite the violent nature of his gagging. The sniper felt some pity for him and scrolled through his inventory, searching for the spare he almost always carried. It was mainly out of habit that he had picked up in Fyrestone years ago, when the need for a scarf wasn’t exactly as needed as it was now. In part, he could blame Roland and Brick for the almost religious habit, the two unable to go on any sort of mission without getting a wound their shields or turret couldn’t heal or picking a mission where a scarf was damn useful to keep the stench of whatever dying things lay around them. Lilith almost never needed the spare he carried, her Siren powers keeping her healed and practically immune to almost everything- well, except smell, but even then, she was smart enough to carry her own damn items.

“Axton forgets things quick, / unless, of course, they are on / the beautiful Moxxi.”

“Oh fucking bite me Zer0 you little-”

“Here, a spare of mine. Don’t lose it or puke in it, I want it back. And a piece of advice,” he tossed the item to the ever grateful Axton, who quickly equipped it, mimicking the way Mordecai had put his own on. “Invest in a scarf if you intend to stay here on Pandora. Jack’s fucked the place with slag and eridium waste.”

“Ah… Y-yeah, thanks…” The blonde quickly nodded, finishing wrapping the thing around his face, glad to have a break from the stench as he sucked in a deep breath. “Whew wee, that feels better.”

“Alright then,” the hunter grinned, stretching slowly as he pulled up his inventory. “Good job on the stealth you two, I’m genuinely impressed. Think you can keep it up for phase two?” The brunette couldn’t help the smirk that was sliding across his lips, the thrill of being out on the field getting to him a bit. It had been what felt like ages since he had been doing anything besides basic, run of the mill training with the Crimson Raider recruits, and goddamn did it feel amazing to have something mildly challenging to do for once.

“Hell yeah,” Axton nodded quickly, the excitement in his voice only encouraging Mordecai.

“The hare runs too fast, / the turtle wanders slowly, / how about a mix?”

“Are you really calling me a turtle?”

“I imply that you are / the dumb, idiotic hare / whose arrogance will end him.”

“Glad to see where you stand, buddy.”

“Zer0 has a point,” Mordecai snickered, shaking his head as he pulled up his hood display, searching for the spot on the map where they were. The banter between the two had lightened the mood considerably, allowing the sniper to enjoy the trip rather than dread it as he had thought he would. It was a relaxedness he rather missed from the days he and the other three original vault hunters went traipsing around Pandora, finding vault key pieces, killing bandits, skags and psychos alike. He had never expected himself to miss it nearly this much, never anticipated missing those long hours where he’d sit up with Brick keeping watch, but then again he also never saw him and Brick dating or breaking up, the idea of a relationship gut wrenchingly terrifying for a young and rather closed off Mordecai.

“I dunno, I think the faster we sneak in the faster we can get out.” Axton protested, shifting a bit as he peaked out of the gashing hole in the pipeline, rubbing the metal and looking around. “I mean, going fast has gotten us here so far…”

“Phase two includes more, / were you not listening to / our fearless leader?”

“I know phase two has more, genius, I was just-”

“What I think Zer0 means is that the hacking process that has to happen once we get to the communications tower.” The brunette murmured, pointing to the glowing waypoint on his map. “Stealth, as I have repeatedly emphasised, is key throughout this entire mission, Axton. Stealth means that you move as quickly as you need to but not so fast that you draw attention to yourself.”

“Right, okay, so game plan is?”

“Game plan is I cover fire for you and Zer0 to get all the way to the tower- its a straight shot, but its long and probably has several loaders. You both will hid behind crates or other objects you can find until i get the chance to snipe the patrolling loader bot near you. Once the bot dies, you’ll move on to the next patrol area and I’ll snipe the bot, rinse, repeat, do that until we get you two to the tower.”

“Right… Okay, but then how will we hack it? Zer0 and I don’t have any experience hacking Hyperion tech.”

“Then we cover fire / for Mordecai to get over to / the tower and hack.”

“Precisely,” the sniper grinned, closing his hood so he could reload his sniper rifle, humming softly. “Easy as that, we hold up in the tower, you two stand guard and prevent the loaders from noticing anythin’s up, we’ll be home before you know it.”

“Now this is my kinda mission. Think you can keep up Zer0?”

“I think the better / question you should be asking / is can you keep up?”

“Oh fucking bite me.”

Mordecai laughed as the two continued to bicker slightly, the light fighting surprisingly not annoying him as it echoed along the pipe. Normally, with the Raiders, he’d have tried to shoot one for talking too much or asking too many questions. But Zer0 and Axton had yet to piss him off, both keeping on par with the plan and rolling with whatever had been thrown at them, a feat that the sniper greatly appreciated and missed. He guessed that was probably the difference between vault hunters and regular civilians and former lance- the ability and willingness to understand, adapt and execute a mission. Regular civilians couldn’t keep up and would most likely resort to default operations or fall back on who ever they believed out ranked them, also known as former lance. The lance… Well they had their own problems, like rigorous military style, training, formations- sure they’d be able to execute a plan, but they’d do it because a higher rank ordered them to do it, not because they genuinely understood what in the hell they were doing. The vault hunters, on the other hand, wanted information upfront and before anything was done so that a full understanding was reached before a mission was carried out. And if the team felt iffy about the details of a mission they’d collectively decline it, or the offended members wouldn’t complete it, but either way the mission would be planned, grasped and done thoroughly well if a vault hunting team did it. Plus they’d be able to handle anything that came up that was quote ‘additional’ if it ever arose- which, on Pandora, happened more often than you’d think.

“Wait, we’re at the waypoint- how are we gonna get out of the pipe if there’s no exit, Mordecai?”

That was another difference, vault hunters saw rank as a trivial thing and defaulted to names, the lance followed rank like it was a fucking be all end all religious cult.

“See that hatch entry?” He pointed to the door with the Hyperion warning label on it, placed to ensure any one who happened to be trapped in the pipe that their worst fears were confirmed- the hatch door was only able to be opened from the exterior, meaning it was hopeless to try and open it from the side the three now stood outside of.

“Yeah, it say exterior entry only.”

“And notice that it has a faint purple tint to it?” He could see the light bulb had gone off in Axton’s brain.

“Oh fuck yeah, its slagged? I thought that only happens to people.”

“It normally can only happen to organic beings, yeah, but because its been exposed to slag for a fuck ton of time and without maintenance- thanks to your buddy Salvador’s handy work with the car explosion- it hasn’t been repaired or replaced. Normally Hyperion is anal over making sure this sorta thing doesn’t happen but being as they retreated up to Helios, the door has gotten a number on it.”

“So a few shots from a Jakobs and it’s done for?”

“Or a really strong kick, yeah.”

“Sweet mother of God, and I thought I’d seen it all.”

“Give it a kick and then take cover while I get on top of the pipe to snipe shit.” Mordecai didn’t have to say that twice, the commando giving the hatch a decisive kick.

The metal gave a loud screech as its hinges gave way almost instantly, the door landing on the metal flooring with an echoing clatter, bouncing noisily before it finally stopped and left silence lingering in its wake. Frowning, the sniper pulled Axton back, Talon screeching from his position on Mordecai’s neck. Something wasn’t right, there should be dead silence, there should have been at least one loader bot losing its shit over the sudden noise, at least one trying to find them, and one roaming nearby. There shouldn’t be dead silence.

“Something is off…” He whispered, keeping the two behind him as he crept to the hatch entrance, his goggles helping him adjust to the bright light, eyes sweeping the area trying to find the oddity. And then the pipe began to shake violently, like it had when Handsome Jack had been drilling for eridium only this time it wasn’t drilling, it was methodical, too regular, too systematic- _like the footsteps of a Saturn bot._

 _“Hijo de puta-”_ The sniper backed into the pipe, just on the left side of the hatch, leaving Axton and Zer0 to the right. “What the hell is a fucking _Saturn_ doing here?”

“Hooooly shit that thing is huge.”

“Not as large as the / one that we fought months ago, / now that one was big.”

“You aren’t helping.” Axton peered out the hatch slightly, eyes following the Saturn’s large leg as it turned again, apparently oblivious to the trio of intruders. “Why is it here though?”

“Hyperion musta caught wind of a bandit info run… That or they just doubled down and left the Saturn instead of tons of bots- god fucking damn it…” The situation couldn’t have gone from bad to worse in such a chaotic manner, even _if_ Brick had been here punching his way through every fuckin’ thing. A Saturn meant death, one shot from its laser eye and missile and you were toast.

“Well then we just get to the tower one at a time, keep it distracted and not aggravated on us.”

“And I disappear. / A ghost amidst the combat. / Preparing to strike.”

“A metaphor kinda doesn’t help, jackass.” Axton huffed, quickly getting a smack in the back of the head. “Ow what the-”

“Sorry, did that hurt? / That “sorry” was sarcasm / I am not sorry.”

Mordecai watched the two, eyes flitting to the exterior of the hatch once more as he took Axton’s suggestion into advisement. It was then he noticed the crushed loaders in the area, being pushed around by one of the Saturn’s feet. Normally, loader bots had a coned area around them that they were able to notice movement which allowed them to do a quick scan to see if the thing in front of them was Hyperion or was not. This meant that only things in the area that the Saturn could _see_ was at risk of being targeted and anything by its feet or to its back side was too far out of range to be noticed.

This could still work…

“Alright, Axton, you’re right. As long as we don’t gain its attention we can make it. Holster your weapons, okay? Don’t you _dare_ blow your cover.” He swallowed, gently tapping Talon’s head and encouraging him to curl up under his scarf. Better there than attempting to fly when they needed to stay low.

“One at a time then?”

“One at a time.” Mordecai nodded, looking to Zer0. “Zer0, you go first, clear a path while you’re in decepti0n, alright?”

Almost instantly, the assassin was out of the pipe, using their skill as soon as they hit the ground and instantly being out of sight from the other two. Swallowing hard again, the sniper saw movement by the tower and then Zer0 became visible on the ledge, giving a quick nod before disappearing into the room and the door closing behind them. Letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding in, the sniper looked at Axton.

“Alrighty, take it slow, okay? Remember, you don’t have invisibility on your side here so if you think it might see you during a run, stay put.” He patted the commando’s shoulder, grinning as the younger man gave only a quick nod before dropping down and taking cover behind some nearby crates.

Axton’s run to the communications tower felt as if it lasted years, the commando taking his sweet time dashing from crate to crate, nearly getting his arm crushed when the Saturn decided to change where it placed its foot. Nevertheless, the blonde made it to the ladder in good time and without being noticed, giving Mordecai a shit eating grin as he snuck in through the door and closed it again. The sniper was half expecting the two to break their promise and ECHO him, but his ECHO stayed silent as the Saturn made another step in its long sequence of motions, patrolling the pipeline slowly.

“Alrighty, nothing to hard, Mordecai…” He murmured to himself, quickly dropping to the ground and rolling behind the crate opposite of the one Axton took cover behind- and glad of it. The Saturn took a turn, stepping on the pile of crates as if it were nothing, the metal screeching in protest as they were crushed, a couple of stray shards flying past the sniper and slicing his cheek before embedding itself in the wall behind him. 

_He was on Marcus’ bus, heading to Fyrestone, heading anywhere away from where he landed from Artemis, away from his old life. He was sitting on this rickety bus and hearing Marcus drag on and on when he noticed the goliath of a man across from him. The guy who seemed to nothing but muscle had vibrant blue eyes, that’s one of the things the hunter noticed as he sat on Marcus’ bus. Bloodwing was perched on his shoulder, sleeping despite the jostling of the bus as it ran over another skag, the driver laughing maniacally. The heat of the badlands was inescapable, even in the bus with its shade and limited fans that kept one mildly cool. The stifflingness of the bus was getting to Mordecai, though, especially with three other people sitting near him._

_“Next stop- Fyrestone Depot. Time to gather up your stuff! Who’s gettin’ off the bus?” Marcus had that sickening rip off type vibe, his numerous warnings about shopping anywhere else backed up by the underlying threatening air he gave off._

_And then the giant ass guy with vibrant blue eyes that Marcus just called beef stick stood up, going to the front of the bus._

Panting as he collected his thoughts, the sniper quickly back peddled against the wall as the Saturn stayed put, its large feet firmly planted on the ground. Swallowing, he quickly got back to his feet, staying crouched as he pushed a hand against the metal crates to keep himself steady, waiting to see if the Saturn changed anything else in its pattern. Sure enough, the giant bot lifted its other foot, moving it slowly and towards where Mordecai was crouched. Fighting back the urge to yell, he dove for the pile of crates just diagonal to him, feeling his ankle clip a dead loader bot. Hissing in pain, the sniper somehow managed to land semi properly, nursing his ankle as the Saturn crushed the crate he had _just_ dashed away from, his heart pounding in his chest.

_He was sitting at a bar in New Haven, having what was probably way too many Rakk Ales from the bartender who was trying way too hard to be Moxxi. He was shit faced, completely drunk, and should not in any manner have another shot along with another bottle, but he did anyway. Another round to numb the emptiness, the push down the urge to move on and try to collect the broken pieces that were his life at the moment._

_He’d dated Moxxi for a while, pushing his feelings for a certain blue eyed giant aside, hoping he could not fuck up something in his fucked up life, and then she left him. Her sickly sweet perfume hung in his apartment even when she was on fucking Elpis, reminders of her littered his place, so returning there was not an option._

_“Where is he.”_

_“I don’t think-”_

_“Where is he, Roland.”_

_“Inside…”_

_The doors to the bard were thrown open violently, so violently that it could only be one person- Brick. He had gone AWAL since the sniper began dating Moxxi, running missions with anybody who’d go with him while Mordecai sunk his life in Moxxi’s arms. And now he was grabbing the hunter by the collar, lifting him up with ease._

_“Put me down.” He slurred, struggling in vain to free himself from the other’s grasp._

_“Fuck no, you’ve had enough.”_

_“Fucking- put me down!” He tried to claw at the other’s arm, thrashing against his hand as he was pulled out of the bar and towards his shithole of an apartment. “Put me down put me down!” He screamed, fighting more and more as Brick approached his apartment._

_“Why? Why should I fucking listen to you right now? After what you put Lilith through? After what you went of about with Roland?”_

_“Fuckin’ leave me alone!” The brunette hissed, trying to kick the other in the gut, the world spinning in the familiar way it did before he puked his guts out. “You always do this! You make things messy and confusing and you won’t fuckin-” Mordecai blinked when his ass hit the ground, staring at Brick’s boots as the world slowed down a bit._

_“Don’t you even go there, Mordecai.” The giant man huffed, crossing his arms. “You’re gonna go home with me, you’re gonna sober up and then we are going to fuckin’ talk.”_

_That was different. Roland and Lilith had forced him into his shithole of an apartment, only for him to completely meltdown and scream horrible, awful and cruel things at them and then pass out on his couch, too afraid to enter his room. But Brick didn’t even consider that, didn’t consider shoving him in the place he feared the most, no he wanted Mordecai to come to his own apartment, just next door._

_“Your place?”_

_“Yeah, where else?”_

_“... Alright…” He slowly stood up, grabbing onto Brick for support, resting his forehead against the other’s shoulder, gripping his shirt a bit. “Sorry for what I said…” He mumbled, swallowing as he felt the urge to cry as the other hugged him close, his body radiating heat._

_“Not a problem, Mordy.” The other’s voice rumbling from his chest, somehow calming the sniper. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”_

“Fuck- fuck- _fuck!_ ” The hunter hissed, rubbing his throbbing ankle as he looked to the tower. He could make it, possibly, but he’d had to wait for the Saturn to turn around, its eye fully facing the tower. The tinted glass helped prevent Axton and Zer0 from being spotted, thus avoiding bringing on the full wrath of the giant bot that currently was getting ready to move again. Eyes flicking to the foot that was closest to him, the sniper had to take another deep breath, trying to calm his pounding heart and focus on the task at hand- surviving the Saturn’s randomly changing patrol patterns. Huffing softly, he saw it was getting ready to move again, this time gearing up to lift on top of the pipeline, giving him time to dash to the tower. Grateful to be at the ladder, Mordecai scurried to the top, horrorstruck when the door remained closed. Desperate to get inside before the Saturn realized he was there, the hunter banged on the door, his heart pounding in his ears. He couldn’t yell, he couldn’t scream, he couldn’t make more noise than what he already was, otherwise the bot would notice him and he’d be dead for sure. He’d be dead before he could make up with Brick, dead before he could even consider getting Lilith back, dead before he could get Handsome Jack back for the heartache the bastard had caused.

_“Brick-” He mumbled into his ECHO, the static dropping as he heard the other pick up. “Brick can you-”_

_“I’m busy.” His voice was full of anger and annoyance, rough enough to have the other cringe._

_“Brick, we need to talk.”_

_“Then talk now.”_

_“... I’m going on an intel run with Axton and Zer0, to the Hyperion Info Stockade.”_

_“And I care why?”_

_“Figured you’d wanna know where I was, need someone to take care of things in Sanctuary while I’m gone.”_

_“So you’re running away.”_

_“That’s not what this is, Brick-”_

_“That is what this is, Mordecai. You’re running away, just like you always do. I guess things never actually changed from out vault hunting days.”_

_“You know what, yeah, nothing has changed, I’m still the piece of shit, the drunk, pendejo. I’m a coward, a jackass, I’m still the selfish-”_

_“Yeah, maybe you-”_

_“But I’m trying, and maybe you haven’t changed either-”_

_“Mordecai don’t-”_

_“Maybe you’re still the giant idiot who runs into battle like the culo gordo he fucking is. Maybe you’re still the bumbling fucking idiota you were in Fyrestone.”_

_Dead silence, the static of the ECHO the only thing left as realization hit and guilt sunk in._

_“Oh fuck me, Brick I’m so sorry I didn’t mean that I-”_

_“No, I think you meant exactly what you said.” Brick’s voice was smooth, coldly smooth, his anger as cold as the Southern Shelf in winter. “Fuck you, Mordecai, fuck you.”_

_Static of the ECHO bounced through HQ, alone with Mordecai in silent guilt._

The doors finally opened and it took all of the sniper’s willpower not to scream at the two inside as he rolled onto the floor, sucking in a deep breath as Talon screeched at him, flying to perch on top one of the pillaged chests.

“Fucking _hell_ …” He groaned, laying on his back as he threw an arm over his forehead. “The Saturn is switching up patterns, getting back to the pipe is gonna be a bitch…”

“You okay, Mordecai…?”

“Just peachy…” He sat up, rubbing his aching ankle as he swallowed. “Got any insta-health viles?”

“Yeah but… They don’t fix sprains or broken bones…” Axton was staring at him as Zer0 typed away at the control panel. “Hey, man, you look like your life flashed before your eyes- are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

“Yeah... “ The sniper smiled a bit, closing his eyes as he laid back against the floor. “Yeah just… Just need a breather…”


End file.
